Case Study 02

Sabey Data Centers

Designing for
$20 million.

A full-scale enterprise UX engagement — research, architecture, design system, and production — for one of the nation's leading data center operators.

Role

Senior Web Designer (Solo)

Scope

Full UX — End to End

Duration

June 2021 — January 2023

Outcome

$20M+ Deal Influenced

01 — The Brief

The stakes.

Sabey Data Centers competes for hyperscale colocation contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Every enterprise buyer who lands on the website is evaluating Sabey against much larger, better-resourced competitors. The digital experience is not a brand exercise. It is a sales tool. When I joined in June 2021, the website was not performing at the level the business required.

The Core Challenge

Build a website that serves as a genuine sales tool for enterprise buyers making multi-million dollar colocation decisions — while also communicating Sabey's culture, values, and employer brand to candidates, partners, and press.

Three Problems to Solve

Information architecture failure

Complex technical specifications — power density, colocation tiers, connectivity options, security compliance — were buried in inconsistent page structures. Enterprise buyers couldn't evaluate facilities efficiently. The site was organized around internal categories, not buyer decision-making.

Performance problems undermining credibility

A data center company with a slow website is a credibility problem, not just a UX problem. Page load times were directly impacting lead quality and bounce rates on high-intent pages. The technical foundation needed rebuilding, not patching.

No scalable design system

Six data center campuses. Multiple service lines. All designed inconsistently, maintained manually, impossible to scale. Every new page was a one-off. Nothing was reusable. The system had to be rebuilt from first principles.

02 — My Role

One designer.
Every decision.

As Senior Web Designer, I owned the entire digital design function at Sabey Data Centers — the only designer in the organization. This was not a role with a brief handed down from a creative director. It required building the brief, running the research, making the strategic case to executive stakeholders, and then designing, building, and shipping the work.

UX Research

Discovery & audit

·Stakeholder interviews
·Website performance audit
·Competitive analysis
·User flow mapping

Strategy

Scope & roadmap

·Identified highest-impact areas
·Defined project scope
·Built executive presentation
·Presented to C-suite

Information Architecture

Structure & systems

·Redesigned site navigation
·Location page template
·Content hierarchy
·Lead-gen flow design

Design

Wireframe to prototype

·Wireframing in Adobe XD
·High-fidelity prototyping
·Multi-format asset production
·Photography direction

Production

Build & ship

·WordPress / Elementor build
·Performance optimization
·Plugin architecture
·Cross-browser QA

Stakeholder Comms

Reporting & alignment

·C-suite UX presentations
·Performance reporting
·Digital roadmap
·Executive alignment

When Sabey outsourced web design to a marketing agency in early 2023, it took a full agency team to replace what one designer had been doing.

03 — The Work

The work. Documented.

Location Page System

Six campus pages. One scalable template. Power density, colocation tiers, connectivity, security — structured for enterprise buyer decision-making.

Information architecture redesign

Restructured the entire site around buyer decision journeys rather than internal org structure. Navigation, page hierarchy, and content sequencing all rebuilt from user intent outward.

Lead-gen flow optimization

Identified and redesigned the highest-value conversion paths — tour scheduling, contact forms, and facility spec downloads. Every friction point mapped, prioritized, and resolved.

Multi-format asset production

Brand photography art direction across 1920×1080 desktop and 1080×1350 social formats. Consistent visual language across careers, culture, stewardship, and news sections.

Performance engineering

WordPress and Elementor architecture rebuilt from the ground up. Plugin stack audited and streamlined. 30% load time improvement delivered and measured to C-suite.

04 — The Outcome

The outcome.

$20M+

Hyperscale deal influenced

Lead-gen flow redesign contributed directly to Sabey's largest contract. Design as revenue, not decoration.

30%

Site performance improvement

WordPress and Elementor rebuilt. Load times reduced. Plugin stack streamlined. Measured and reported.

Designer. Full scope.

Research, strategy, IA, wireframes, prototypes, production, stakeholder comms. Solo ownership.

What This Demonstrates

Business fluency

Design decisions framed in revenue impact and business outcomes, not aesthetic preference. Every UX choice connected to a measurable business goal. The $20M+ outcome is the proof.

Systems thinking

A scalable location page template system. A reusable component architecture. Design decisions that compound over time rather than solving one problem in isolation.

Executive communication

UX research findings presented to C-suite stakeholders. Digital roadmap recommended and approved. The ability to translate design thinking into language a business leader acts on.

End-to-end execution

Research to stakeholder presentation to wireframe to prototype to production build to measured outcome. No handoff to another team. Full ownership, full accountability, full delivery.

“Great design serves the business. This project proves it with a number.”

← Back to Work

Designing for$20 million.